While the Alps are already blanketed, areas at lower altitude got a covering of snow on Monday as the weather turned colder.
All photos: Migual Medina/AFP
Residents of central Milan woke up to find the city had turned white, after the first flakes fell overnight. Around 20 centimetres (8 inches) of snow fell in the city on Monday.
The cold weather didn't stop people from getting out into the fresh air, perhaps for the first time in days, with some loosening of coronavirus restrictions on Monday.
Falling trees disrupted traffic, with local authorities deploying dozens of snowploughs to clear main thoroughfares.
The storms caused tailbacks on several motorways, notably the A26 bound for Italy's largest commercial port of Genoa, capital of the Liguria region.
Main roads around Milan had been cleared on Monday morning, local media reports, but many others are still covered with snow.
Bad weather has caused disruption to train servces in Lombardy, Piedmont, Liguria, Veneto and other parts of the north.
The Great St Bernard Tunnel on the border with Switzerland was closed to heavy goods vehicles
With a typically humid climate, Milan rarely sees snow on a large scale but January 1985 notably saw 90 centimetres, with smaller falls in 2006 and 2009.
Rome was hit by heavy rain as well as strong winds and storms. The wintry weather was expected to move further south overnight
Unfortunately for snow tourists, Italy's ski resorts remain closed until at least January under the country's strict coronavirus rules.
All photos: Migual Medina/AFP
Winter weather words in Italian
la neve – snow
la nevicata – snowfall
i fiocchi – flakes
innevato – snow-covered
imbiancato – turned white
il gelo – ice
l'inverno – winter
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We had about 10 cms of snow fall on Boxing Day up in the mountains in Marche. It was very beautiful and almost a white Christmas.